


I'll Crawl Home

by captainpeach



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Other, Reunions, fuck it bro golden trio and gruniper renunion, post trials of apollo, so spoilers ahead!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22095280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainpeach/pseuds/captainpeach
Summary: He didn’t return to camp half-blood first, no, he didn’t think he could. Even as much as he wanted to, he wasn’t quite as ready as he thought he was. The thought of seeing everyone again- Chiron, Mr. D... Juniper. It made his hands shake. The only person he thought he could handle seeing right now, was Percy and Annabeth.Grover returns home after the Burning Maze
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase & Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Juniper/Grover Underwood, Percy Jackson & Grover Underwood, mostly bg though
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	1. "Pinky Promise that you'll visit?"

**Author's Note:**

> Rick isn't gonna give us a reunion so I will :)

He didn’t return to camp half-blood first, no, he didn’t think he could. Even as much as he wanted to, he wasn’t quite as ready as he thought he was. The thought of seeing everyone again- Chiron, Mr. D... Juniper. It made his hands shake. The only person he thought he could handle seeing right now, was Percy and Annabeth.

Being in Manhattan after spending so long out in the desert was more refreshing than he could’ve imagined. There were trees. Few and far between, but they were there. The air wasn’t dry and hot and the sky was cloudy. And he wore a sweater for the first time in years.

The inside of the apartment building was nice. He hadn’t seen much of Percy and Ms. Jackson’s new apartment since.... actually, he didn’t think he’d seen it at all. Goes to show how long he’d been away. He hadn’t even had time to see his friend after the second war before he was dragged off to the desert.

He, at the very least, new the number of the apartment. He pressed the button, and a moment later, a familiar voice came through the speaker “Hello?” it wasn’t Percy, but it was just as familiar, and just hearing it made his heart beat faster than it had all day. He took a long, shaky breath and responded “hey, Ms. Jackson, it’s Grover... Underwood.” something beeped, he wasn’t sure what, and he heard the sound of the door unlocking

“come on up, I’m sure Percy and Annabeth will be happy to see you.”

He didn’t like elevators, he never had, so he took the stairs. Thank god the Jackson’s had chosen a second-floor apartment. He was upstairs and at the door in less than five minutes. He knocked, and not a moment later, the door opened and he was being hugged. It was nice. Familiar, almost. “It’s been so long” Ms. Jackson pulled away but kept her hands gently on his face as she took him in. He was aware he looked like a mess. He hadn’t had a haircut in quite some time, and he was still healing from the maze. “you’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”

She let him inside “you wait right here, I’ll go get them.” He took in the apartment as Ms. Jackson walked away. It was nice, the walls were a soft blue, somewhere between sea and navy blue. A china cabinet was set up in the kitchen. On the fridge, he spotted a Polaroid of him, Annabeth, and Percy. He remembered taking that photo. Barely a day after the battle of Manhattan, Annabeth and Percy had snuck up on him and snapped a photo. He smiled at it. It almost shocked how much they’d grown in the years since then, and so much had happened.

Before he could think, and much too fast, he was being tackled with hugs. He had been on the giving end of that kind of hug, but he didn’t think he’d ever been on the receiving end. Nevertheless, he managed to process who was hugging him. He caught a glimpse of blond hair, and sea-green eyes, And it took all of his might not to start crying. You never realize just how much you miss someone until you see them again.

Grover had thought he knew just how much he’d missed his friends, but now, hugging them, the aching in his chest was somehow more intense than it had been when he was away. Annabeth pulled away enough to look at him. She brushed his hair out of his face “you look like you’ve been through hell” she said softly, tears rimmed her eyes, but she was smiling. He sighed sharply and laughed, quieter than a mouse.

“Thanks, Annabeth. I missed you, too.” he supposed he had been through hell. The Labyrinth certainly counted as such, in his humble opinion. Percy appeared in his vision, stepping in from beside him “dude, where have you been?” too many places to count. He wanted to cry, to complain, to vent about all he been through. But, he hadn’t been through Tartarus like them, so... what did he have to complain about?

Percy wrapped his arm around his shoulder “Grover? Are you alright?” sometimes, when he was having a bad day, he would keep everything inside, and then someday, he hoped, he’d die, never having let out anything he’d rather keep secret. But then someone would ask, gently, quietly ‘Are you okay?’ and everything would come out in a flood of tears. Today, it seemed, was one of those days. The moment those words left Percy’s lips, he started crying.

“so much has happened, I- I don’t even know where to start I... I don’t...” Percy and Annabeth had seen this before. They knew how to react, Ms. Jackson had as well, but not with him. She frowned at them from the kitchen, she leaned in as she passed them “I’ll go get a blanket” she whispered to Percy.

Annabeth led him to the couch and they all sat down. They held him, giving him a moment to calm down. Ms. Jackson came back a minute later and gave him the blanket, he didn’t wrap it around himself, he hugged it, and pressed it against his face. The soft fabric grounded him, and after a minute, he managed to get it together long enough to explain.

“...And I fell asleep in the dining room. When I woke up, some guy and a girl who looked no more than nine were standing over me” Percy held up a hand and shook it “wait wait wait... Was the girl's name Meg McCaffrey?”

He stared for a moment, how the hell did he know that “how do you know that?” Percy blanked for a minute, his mouth was open but he didn’t say anything for a good minute.

“I met her. Apollo and Meg. They made me drive them to camp half-blood”

He should’ve figured, of course, a god would go to Percy. That seemed to be a common occurrence ever since he stepped foot into the oracle’s attic. They stared at each other for a moment, and then, they started laughing. Neither were sure why.

Maybe it was the coincidence. Or maybe they had so many emotions stirring in their head, that all they could do was laugh, because what the hell else are you supposed to do when you’ve got so many emotions that you don’t know what to do with them? You can’t cry, that would send you into a pit. And you can’t just ignore it, because then nothing changes. So the only solution, for them, was to start laughing.

After a minute, the three of them calmed down. “So, what happened after that?” Annabeth said, wiping a happy tear from her eye. He sighed and went on. He told them everything, about Hedge at the store, about the nature spirits- tearfully as he talked about those they’d lost, and fondly of the ones that remained, he told them about the maze, and about meeting Piper- both of them were glad to hear that they got along just fine, two friends not getting along was the last thing they needed.

And he told them about Jason. They both already knew, of course. He hadn’t gotten to meet him. But Apollo and Meg had been distressed when they returned. They didn’t linger on that topic for very long.

“so now, I’m gonna go back to camp half-blood”

“back to juniper?”

“....yeah. Back to Juniper.”

Percy and Annabeth’s arms were around him again, and this time, he was able to hug them back. “we love you, man.” Percy whispered to him. He could feel his eyes shining with tears.

“I love you guys, too.” he loved them more than any words, English or otherwise, could ever explain. There were hundreds of words in the English language, and he couldn’t possibly think of enough of them to explain how much he loved them. He didn’t need too, thankfully. Because they both understood just fine. They always had.

He stood, picked his bag up off the floor, and slung it over his shoulder. Percy’s hand still lingered on his, like he didn’t want to let go. Grover couldn’t blame him. He didn’t want to either. But he did, his hand fell at his side. Annabeth gave him one last hug, and tucked a stray curl back into his hat “Pinky promise me you’ll visit?” she said, holding up her finger. He locked his finger with hers “I promise.”


	2. I'll Crawl Home To Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grover goes home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went through the Gruniper tag and there were literally three fics that were actually about Gruniper I- anyways, so, here's the second chapter! woohoo! Also thank you Grammarly for my rights cause It would take so much longer to get these fics out without it lmao

Percy offered to drive Grover back to camp, and he gladly accepted. He didn’t think his legs could handle walking all the way back. He’d done his fair share of hiking already. And a lack of sleep certainly didn’t help. So Percy drove him back, giving Annabeth a quick kiss before he got in the driver's seat.

The ride was quiet. It was a comfortable silence. Grover spent most of the time admiring Manhattan, he hadn’t been there in quite some time. They spotted a familiar school. “Remember when you met me?” Percy said, breaking the silence. He remembered well. Some older kids were picking on him. And Percy had caught them. He remembered the look in Percy’s eyes when he shouted at the kids, her were twice his size.

“Yeah, I remember. Do you know what gave it away? What made me realize that you were powerful?”

“what?”

“you’re eyes.”

Percy glanced at him, tilting his head. He continued “That look in your eyes when you were shouting at those guys, I had never seen it before. And then that janitor’s bucket was knocked over like magic and I thought ‘oh... He’s the one. He must be.’” He looked at Percy, who was smiling “I don’t think I could picture my life without you.”

The car stopped at a red light, and Percy looked at him “Me too. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” he smiled back at him. Man, things were getting sappy. Being separated for so long does that to someone. Percy reached over and put his hand on Grover’s shoulder since he couldn’t hug him. Grover put his hand over Percy’s “I missed you” he said.

“I missed you, too.”

They fell back into silence and remained that way the rest of the drive. Grover promised to himself, silently, that he would never let himself lose track of time. He never wanted to be away for so long, ever again. Eventually, the car came to a stop. A few feet away, was the entrance to Camp Half-Blood.

They both got out of the car. For a moment, all he could do was stare. This was it. He was home. Percy put his arm around his shoulder and tugged him close “It’s alright. I promise, it’s the same place as always.” he said. Grover looked at him and nodded “Yeah... I’m just... It’s been a while.” he thought back to when he’d led Apollo and Meg out of the labyrinth, and he’d started crying when he caught the scent of the strawberries holding back the monsters. He felt a twinge of embarrassment that he’d let himself lose his cool in front of a god. Regardless of the form he was trapped in.

Percy gave him another hug, tighter than any they’d already shared that day. IT lasted much longer than it probably should have, they both had places to be. But neither of them wanted to let go. “I’ll visit, I promise,” he whispered. Percy finally let go, letting his hands linger on Grover’s shoulders for a moment. “I’ll see you, G-man,” he said. He nearly laughed at the old nickname, it was nice to hear it again.

Percy got back in the car, then he was gone. And Grover was left standing in front of the entrance of the camp. He took a deep breath and went forward.

His hands kept shaking, and he was pretty sure the only reason he wasn’t crying was that he could feel eyes on him, and he didn’t want to make a fool of himself. He miraculously managed to make his way to the big house without breaking down in the middle of the camp. He could see Mr. D and Chiron on the porch, playing some sort of card game, Pinochle, if he remembered correctly. He stepped up and knocked on the fence of the wrap-around porch. Chiron looked up from his cards and saw him.

“I’m home.” It wasn’t until he spoke, that Mr. D looked up. Chiron smiled at him and stood. He opened his arms, and Grover hugged him. It was good. It felt familiar. And safe. He was home. He was okay. He could feel tears in his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall.

“Welcome home.” Grover let go and hastily wiped his eyes. He adjusted the straps of his backpack. Mr. D dropped his cards on the table and looked at him. Grover half expected him to rip into his appearance. He hadn’t had the chance to wash up at Percy’s house, he’d been in a rush to get back to camp. All he did, though, was cross his arms, look him up and down, and say “good to have you back.”

He smiled, and looked back at Chiron “Have either of you seen-”

“Juniper?” Mr. D interrupted. He nodded. “she’s by the lake.”

He bid them goodbye and made his way to the lake. Once he was out of sight of the two, he ran. He didn’t care that his legs were aching, or that his lungs screamed at him to stop. The anticipation in his chest had built so much that it was unbearable. He needed to see her. It couldn’t wait any longer.

There she was, as Mr. D had said, sitting by the lake with another dryad that he didn’t recognize. She looked just as she had when he left. “Juniper?” he called. She looked up and turned to him. She had an odd look on her face as if she couldn’t believe he was actually standing there. The other girl stood and left with an “I’ll leave you two be”

Juniper stood slowly, keeping her gaze fixed on him, and opened her arms without a word. He didn’t hesitate, he ran the rest of the way to her, and hugged her. He couldn’t find it in him to care that her grip on him was so tight that it made him sore. They both sank back to the ground.

They sat there for a while. And eventually, Juniper pulled away and placed her hands on either side of his face. She wiped his cheek- he wasn’t sure when he had started crying- and let out a sharps bittersweet sigh. “you’re here. You’re really, actually here” she choked out. He nodded and put his hand over hers.

Then, she kissed him. The aching in his chest finally soothed and went away. He no longer bothered to hold back his tears, and neither did he. He held her tightly, even as she pulled away to look at him. She brushed his hair out of his face, she leaned back and looked over him. She frowned, seeing the bruises and scrapes he still sported from the maze. “what happened to you?” she said.

“The gods, as usual.” he sighed “I... um... I had to go back into the labyrinth.” Juniper stared at him in disbelief. Tears were streaking down her face. He expected her to be mad, to start yelling. But she just hugged him “I’m so sorry you had to go back in there...”

He felt the same lump in his throat that he had when Percy had asked if he was okay. He let himself cry. She held him tighter. “I know how much you hate that place... I don’t blame you. It’s okay. You’re safe.” for the first time in quite a while, he actually believed it.

Juniper pulled away and looked at him, her hands still cupping his face “I missed you.” she said softly “I missed you so much that no words could possibly describe it.” he felt the same way, but he didn’t think he could say it then, words seemed to have left him. So he just hugged her again.

They sat there until the sun began to set. Then, they went to see the fire. Juniper chose a seat as far away as possible from the fire, so they could feel it’s warmth, without Juniper worrying. She wasn’t fond of fire, being a nature spirit and all, and he wasn’t either. Especially not after the maze.

They didn’t sing along to the songs, they just listened. He was too tired to sing. and that was okay. Juniper leaned her head against his shoulder and squeezed his hand tightly.

He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated! I love getting feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 2 will be out (hopefully) soon! feedback is always welcome!


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